Business in brief

Citizen Staff Reports

08/03/12

Two local business leaders have been appointed as the 2012-13 Robins School of Business executives-in-residence at the University of Richmond. John Sherman Jr., retired vice chairman, CEO and president of the investment advisory firm Scott & Stringfellow, and Bob Piazza, former vice president of human resources and talent manager of science and technology company Danaher Corp., will help Robins School students with professional and career development. The executive-in-residence program began with an endowment by the Manville Foundation for Private Enterprise in 1979 to bring distinguished business leaders to the Robins School. Sherman and Piazza will serve as what Robins Dean Nancy A. Bagranoff calls “super-mentors,” available to meet with students and provide guidance in specific professional fields.

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Kristine Nolin, assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Richmond, has received a $35,000 grant from Research Corporation for Science Advancement. The two-year Cottrell College Science Award will support Nolin’s project, “Rhenium(V)-Oxo Catalyzed Addition Reactions.” The research looks at bond-forming reactions that are key to efficient syntheses of organic materials and biologically active compounds. The grant will fund equipment, supplies and two undergraduate student assistants. Nolin has taught at Richmond since 2009.

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J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College has been selected as an “Overall Improvement” category winner of the 2012 Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Educational Fundraising Awards program, which honors superior fundraising programs across the country. Reynolds received its Overall Improvement Award based on three years of fundraising data. An expert panel of volunteer judges selected winners based on a number of factors including the pattern of growth in total support, evaluation of what contributed to the total support figure, overall breadth in program areas, pattern of growth in each program area, pattern of donor growth among alumni/ae donors and other individual donors, impact of the 12 largest gifts on total support, total support in relation to the alumni/ae base and type of institution.

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ToysRUs, Inc. has announced the opening of eight new side-by-side locations and the transformation of 13 existing stores by the end of 2012, including one in Henrico. The location at 11895 W. Broad St. will bring ToysRUs and BabiesRUs together in one store, offering customers a streamlined shopping environment. The company embarked on its integrated store strategy in 2006 with renovations to current stores and began opening side-by-side locations constructed from the ground up in 2007. ToysRUs, Inc. currently operates more than 190 side-by-side stores in the United States.

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The National Institutes of Health – National Cancer Institute has awarded John Gupton, professor of chemistry at the University of Richmond, a three-year, $348,572 grant for continuation of cancer-related research on pyrrole-containing substances. The project continues Gupton’s previous NIH-funded research that he believes could lead to “a novel and viable clinical candidate for cancer chemotherapy.” Working with Gupton will be a postdoctoral research associate and several Richmond undergraduate students. Gupton has taught at Richmond since 1999.

University of Richmond’s Office of Alumni and Career Services has hired Frank Allen as associate director of career services and also filled two assistant director positions. Anna Todaro and Jesse Wingate will join the office to provide career advising. Allen will counsel students interested in financial careers. He has more than 15 years of business experience, most recently as vice president, real estate investment banking, at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey Inc. Todaro received a master’s degree in in higher education and student affairs in 2012 from the University of South Carolina. She will counsel students about careers in social impact, arts management and education. Wingate will focus his advising on careers in the sciences and healthcare. He previously served as assistant director for career services at Dartmouth College.

RAMPS (Ramp Access Made Possible by Students) recently received an $8,000 grant from the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. The award was one of 75 grants totaling more than $600,137 awarded by the Reeve Foundation to nonprofit organizations nationwide that provide more opportunities, access, and daily quality of life for individuals living with paralysis, their families and caregivers.

RAMPS, an organization founded by then-Henrico County high school students to build ramps for local low-income residents who need them, will use the grant to purchase modular wheelchair ramp supplies. These supplies will be used by local high school RAMPS clubs, who provide volunteers to build the ramps. > Read more.

Henrico resident Larry Loving, Jr., will compete with three other locals – Thomas Scribner (Richmond), Roscoe McGhee (Midlothian) and Larry Loving (Richmond) in the Liberty Mutual Insurance Invitational National Finals at TPC Sawgrass, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., Feb. 26-Mar. 1. The foursome qualified for the national golf tournament by winning the Liberty Mutual Insurance Invitational, held at Whiskey Creek Golf Club in Ijamsville, Md. on June 11. That event supported the RiteCare Center for Childhood Language Disorders.

The Henrico Police Athletic League (PAL) held its Sixth Annual Awards Banquet Feb. 5 at The Cultural Arts Center of Glen Allen, celebrating accomplishments of 2014 and recognizing outstanding contributions to the organization. Henrico County Juvenile Domestic Court Judge Denis Soden served as master of ceremonies and former Harlem Globetrotter Melvin Adams served as keynote speaker.

Among the 2014 honorees were Richmond International Raceway (Significant Supporter), Richmond Strikers Soccer Club (Significant Supporter), Henrico County Schools-Pupil Transportation (Summer Camp Supporter), Bruce Richardson, Jr. (Youth of the Year), Sandra Williams (Volunteer of the Year), Thomas Williams (Employee of the Year), Mikki Pleasants (Board Member of the Year), and Michelle Sheehan (Police Officer of the Year). > Read more.

It was another win for Willow Lawn when Travinia Italian Kitchen and Wine Bar opened there six months ago, nestled in the heart of the re-made shopping center. The contemporary American Italian restaurant boasts 13 locations up and down the East Coast, with the Henrico location opening in August.

In the same week, I hit up Travinia twice, once for lunch and once for a late dinner. At lunchtime on a weekday, I was overwhelmed by the smell of garlic and by the number of working professionals in nice suits on their lunch breaks. When we first walked in, I was concerned our meal would be a little too pricey based on the décor – it’s a really nice place. Luckily, the menu has a variety of options for every budget. > Read more.

There’s a ton of sugar in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. Literal sugar, as SpongeBob Squarepants (Tom Kenny) and Patrick (Bill Fagerbakke) inhale their own weight in cotton candy and eat ice cream, one scoop per mouthful.

At one point we burrow into the brain of our boxy yellow hero and discover the inner workings of his brain: googly-eyed cakes and candies that giggle and sing. All of which is extremely appropriate for a film like Sponge Out of Water. Because not only is the movie sweet (the “awwww” kind of sweet), but it’s the equivalent of a 30-candy bar sugar rush, zipping between ideas like a sponge on rocket skates.

The story under all this is really not that complicated. SpongeBob flips burgers at the Krusty Krab. > Read more.

With this last round of snow still fresh on the ground, the best way to start the weekend may be at Southern Season for their weekly wine-tasting program, Fridays Uncorked. Families with cabin fever will enjoy the Richmond Kids Expo, taking place tomorrow at the Richmond Raceway Complex. Some date night options include the Rock & Roll Jubilee at The Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen, HATTheatre’s production of “The Whale” and National Theatre Live’s “Treasure Island” at the University of Richmond. For all our top picks this weekend, click here! > Read more.